Crafty otter with a taste for koi

– An epic battle has been playing out in a classical Chinese garden in Canada’s Pacific coast city of Vancouver between a ravenous wild otter and prized ornamental carp, cheered on by locals who have declared themselves for “Team Otter” versus “Team Koi.”

Suspense built over several weeks as the mischievous otter continued to evade capture, even after a wildlife expert was brought in, and the pond was drained, while feasting on 11 of the garden’s 14 adult koi.

As of Thursday, three of the surviving adult koi and more than 300 juveniles had been evacuated from Sun Yat-Sen Park and Classical Garden in the city’s historic Chinatown neighborhood to the Vancouver Aquarium.

The fish relocation was ordered as a last-ditch measure to save the koi, in a saga that began mid-November when visitors spotted the otter scrambling over rocks around the pond.

Gutted koi carcasses would later be found littered around the garden.

“We’re very happy that we were able to get the remaining koi out,” the garden’s spokesperson, Deanna Chan, said.

After staff struggled to catch the fish by wading into the pond, the park authorities lowered the water level and rescued them with a net.

Vancouver Parks Board director Howard Normann told a press conference the koi would likely be returned to the pond in the spring of 2019.

Meanwhile, the entrance to the garden was to be reinforced with grates and plates “to prevent the otter or any of the otter’s friends from revisiting the garden”, he said.

Surveillance cameras would also be installed.

The koi had distinct personalities and coloration, said Chan, who noted that an orange 50-yearold named Madonna could be recognised by two black dots on her forehead and a crooked spine.

“They mean a lot to people in the community, who have been seeing the fish grow up.

“They mean a lot to staff in the garden. The koi are part of our team.”

The otter had scampered across busy downtown streets to reach the garden, which is enclosed by high white walls topped with dark roof tiles and occupies about half a city block.

Park staff and the hired wildlife relocator set seven traps with trout and salmon for the coy critter, but it hasn’t taken the bait.

“The garden is designed to have hidden views and you’re not supposed to be able to see the whole garden from one vantage point, so that does create some challenges,” said Chan.

If the otter is captured, it will be transported to nearby Fraser Valley on the outskirts of the city. –

Vancouver

So, who fired the first shot in our local “chicken wars”? And was it pre-emptive? That we’ll probably never know but the timing of the release – and attendant publicity – of two uniquely South African, push-the-boundaries adverts for fast food chicken brands, makes one wonder. Did one try to steal the thunder of the other?

In the end, it’s the consumer who benefits from the creative jousting between the long-term champion of cheeky, current ads, Nando’s, and the challenger, Chicken Licken.

The Nando’s one, not surprisingly, got everyone talking because it hits quite close to the (thigh?) bone of South African race and ethnic sensitivities and how we often talk past each other because of stereotypes.

So Nando’s shoots those down. Why do “you people” assume the black man running is a criminal; the black woman in the shop works there; why do “you people” have funny accents, why “do you people” make so much noise?

It has a go at just about all the stereotypes and aims to make people have a twinge of guilt and acknowledge that they, at some point, jumped to a conclusion.

The bottom line, in the Nando’s ad, is that what “you people” – and an assortment of all – love flame-grilled chicken.

Chicken Licken’s fantasy story aims to turn history on its head by showing, in the legend of “Big John” – also a meal special at the chain – it was in fact Africa which “discovered” Europe.

It’s quite interesting to see Big John arriving in Holland and causing the good Dutch burghers to wonder what on earth he is. It’s worth watching a few times to pick up the gags you might have missed. My favourite: this happened many years ago, when leather was still fashionable…

What I like about both ads is that they are uniquely South African: despite all the bitching we do about each other, we understand that and I think we can still laugh at ourselves. Also, I don’t think you could do work like this in any other, sanitised, politically correct market.

And, which is the best? You decide – I can’t.

Suffice to say: Orchid for Nando’s and Orchid for Chicken Licken. Thanks for reminding us about what good local ads are.

In a country where mathematical literacy is appallingly bad, I think there is a particular onus on those releasing information to the public for marketing purposes to be especially accurate and even circumspect.

It is so easy to take advantage of gullible media people, and consumers, who might miss your sleight of hand.

The sex and dating website Ashley Madison – now since, thankfully, deceased – used to do the misleading or fake news press release with predictable regularity.

Putting together bogus or misleading news still happens. And the fact that a lot of it gets published, uncritically, says a lot about our thoroughness, as the media, in fact-checking.

A company called Vend and its PR company, Red Ribbon Communications, sent out a release this week which said: “Black Friday falls flat for South African retailers with 10% drop in spending”, adding “discounting levels continue to grow year-on-year, while Pretoria is the only city to see yearly sales increase”.

The intro was: “Data from leading retail management platform Vend shows that in-store retail spending over the Black Friday shopping period this year dropped by 10% compared to 2017. Sales volumes also decreased by 2%.”

However, only further down in the release was it explained that Vend only caters for “hundreds of small-to-medium and independent retail stores across Africa” (whatever that means). Nowhere in the release was it explicitly stated that Vend’s data comes only from that vague data set.

Even after I raised the issue with Red Ribbon and Vend, they stuck to their guns that the initial release was not misleading.

In this world of fake news, purveyors of information need to be extra careful. So Onions to Vend and Red Ribbon for not being so.